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I once made a coffee table using plumbing parts, basically a couple of rectangles of pipe connected through the middle and with a flat rectangle of acrylic resting on top. Similar aesthetic, but I painted the plumbing bright red. Made sure to include a couple of those cool valves that look like ship steering wheels.

Clever, turning ordinary parts into something special. I have a feeling this sort of thing is going to become more popular now (necessity being the mother of invention and all that). A lot of people are talking about “The Power of Small” lately. This is one of the cooler examples of it.

I might be concerned about the risks of electrocution although this is visually awesome. If you read boingboing you’re quite likely interested in DIY but I urge extra caution whenever you run the risk of death. Quick workaround: PVC pipes? They probably wouldn’t be as beautiful though.

Although knitting needles might also be deadly. And god, you could do horrible things with a soldering gun or a welding kit. Remind me never to get into a fight with a maker…

I might be concerned about the risks of electrocution although this is visually awesome.

There are lots of metal lamps around- if the case is earthed, it’s not a problem. However, the 1950s lamp given to me by my father-in-law was not earthed, and had a loose live wire inside it… was he trying to tell me something?

The fact that the tap actually acts as a switch is very nice, but $170 is a lot of money…

#3, airshowfan:

I once made a coffee table using plumbing parts

There’s a lengthy description of making a bookcase from plumbing parts onjwz’s website.

See because it’s metal and each of those plumbing fittings are screw thread rather than soldered joints then by rights each touchable metal component should be cross bonded to the earth rather that just one internal earth point. This is because those mechanical joints could become electrically resistive over time and therefore could isolate from the earthed part. Maybe they have, or maybe they haven’t electrically bonded each part internally *shrug*. Then again maybe they are low voltage DC lamps, and no such concerns are needed. Also it’s not the presence of an Earth that makes such AC devices safe from electrocution, only when combined with a residual current/ earth leakage breaker will it become ‘safe’.

The low carbon cast parts use for plumbing can be easily carved and polished. Unless they are cast iron that is. Most of them are pretty ductile/free machining.
Someone should take the time to carve and shape the standard parts into something less recognizable.

So upon seeing this I decided to make my own last night. Took about 30 min to assemble the parts (picked up at my local hardware store). Instead of installing a valve to be the switch I just plugged it into a touch switch, so that simply touching any part of the lamp will turn it on.